Former Vice President Mike Pence has broken his promise to remain silent during the 2024 election, calling on Republicans to support “traditional conservative priorities” and criticizing “protectionist tariffs” on foreign goods, which are a crucial component of Donald Trump’s economic program.
In a Monday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Pence blasted both Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ campaigns, despite stating in August that he would not back any candidate and promised to “stay out of the presidential campaign.”
“The 2024 election is unusual in that both candidates have records in the White House,” Pence said. “It’s the first election in which both candidates are running away from those records.”
In his most recent piece, Pence stated that he has broken his silence to help down-ballot Republicans running in this year’s Senate, governorship, and state races, stressing that their success is dependent on two essential measures.
With the first of these—”exposing the undeniable failures of Kamala Harris and the Democrats”—he said that voters had so far failed to connect the vice president’s policies with those of the previous three and a half years.
“As border czar, she has overseen the worst border crisis in American history and allowed more than 10 million illegal immigrants to enter our country,” writes Pence.
He went on to declare that “on her watch, inflation soared to a 40-year high,” referring to the 9.1 percent year-on-year consumer price index reported in June 2022, while also blaming Harris for the country’s housing problem and Americans’ increasing credit card debt.
The second component of Pence’s agenda involves Republicans adopting “successful conservative policies.”
“The previous administration cut taxes, which fueled wage gains for American workers and created millions of new jobs,” he said.
“We secured the southern border and decreased illegal immigration to record lows, restoring security to our neighborhoods. We accepted America’s leadership role in the free world. We invested trillions of dollars to rebuild our military and restore America’s strength. And our administration was openly pro-life.”
These “traditional conservative priorities,” according to Pence, powered the Republicans to a “historic” triumph in 2016.
Pence also criticized “protectionist tariffs” on imported goods, claiming that they will raise prices for all Americans.
In what appeared to be a slight against his former running mate, Pence argued that Republicans should run on the foreign policy promise of “deliver peace through strength,” echoing Ronald Reagan’s famous paraphrasing of George Washington and rejecting “isolationism and the abandonment of American leadership.”
Pence lost respect with former President Trump’s base after refusing to repudiate the 2020 election results, which sparked threats against the then-vice president during the January 6 Capitol rioting.
In March, Pence declared that he couldn’t “in good conscience” support his former boss, citing “profound differences” on key subjects as well as the events of January.
He went on to say on Monday that Republicans should “unashamedly recommit to the pro-life cause,” which he called “the great moral calling of our era,” while also promising to pass “responsible budgets that fix America’s broken entitlement programs” and casting the GOP as “the party of the constitution.”
“Republicans will win by embracing traditional conservative priorities,” Mr. Pence said. “If the party abandons these positions, it will fail to inspire our supporters. Worse, it will demoralize them, reducing Republicans’ prospects of winning.”
